17 September 2015

To the unaware and for those who have never seen Dick Van Dykes hilariously awful imitation in Mary Poppins, a cockney is a true londoner born within hearing of the bow bells and a sparrow was a term used for a street urchin. So a 'cockney sparrow' is a somewhat under-nourished east london lad who's prone to bouts of cheeky banter.

This print is a nod to where I grew up in the east-end of London, Hackney to be precise. A town once full of markets, quality boozers, and jellied eels, and now... Well to be fair it still has all of that just with an infestation of bearded ****s. The inspiration comes from engravings and decorative hand-letttering found on Victorian newspapers, as well as early photos of London from a time when the tallest landmark on the skyline was St. Pauls (strangely the first time I have ever drawn the cathedral!), how times have changed...